One of the objectives of Team Canada’s new crop missions is to assuage customer concerns about mycotoxins.
“There is a growing focus around the world on the two key myco-toxins in the cereal industry,” said Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada.
Mycotoxins are poisonous chemical compounds produced by fungi. The two big ones in cereal crops are deoxynivalenol (DON), which is produced by certain fusarium species, and ochratoxin A (OTA), which develops in stored grain.
Dahl said risk is an equation defined by the probability of something occurring multiplied by the impact of that event once it occurs.
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Both factors in the mycotoxin equation are on the rise.
Importers have increasingly sensitive tests that can detect parts per billion and even parts per trillion of mycotoxins, which has led to growing scrutiny and sensitivity to the unwanted chemical compounds.
“The risk is growing and so it’s something that as an industry we need to pay more attention to,” said Dahl.
The Canadian Grain Commission is not aware of Canadian grain shipments rejected for exceeding allowable limits for DON and OTA, but Dahl recalls an incident from a number of years ago when a shipment of Canadian durum to Italy was rejected for exceeding OTA limits.
The European Union has an ochratoxin A limit of five parts per billion, and Japan is considering adopting a similar limit.
“Those are really, really small numbers, so the probability of something happening is going up,” said Dahl.
“There is growing monitoring. There is growing scrutiny. And we just need to pay attention to it. That’s why we launched the Keep it Clean program.”
Growers can limit fusarium infection by using proper rotations and applying fungicides. They can minimize ochratoxin A by using proper grain handling practices such as aeration and cooling grain.
“Like a mushroom, it’s a fungus and likes warm and dark places to grow. We need to limit those opportunities for growth,” he said.
The grain commission says mycotoxin awareness is on the rise around the world, but the risk is not. Results from the commission’s export monitoring work do not show increasing trends in DON or OTA over the years.
